


dwy dafod ond un iaith (two tongues but one language)

by somelikeitpink



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Seer!Ryan, Shyan Mini Bang 2019, Shyan Writing Events, Shyan goes to Wales!, supernatural!Ryan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 22:19:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18455744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somelikeitpink/pseuds/somelikeitpink
Summary: Ryan knew the moment that they set foot in the old building that this was going to be another long night. Not because of his Gift, but because the old mansion looked like a palace, the exact kind of place where Ryan imagined old-timey ghosts to live.Also known as the story where Ryan sees the future and hates it - and Shane is being his most supportive self.





	dwy dafod ond un iaith (two tongues but one language)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my baby.  
> When I signed up for the Event I honestly had no idea how well I'd manage with this and how long this fic was going to be. In the end it turned into the longest single chapter thing I've ever written. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy, let me know what you're thinking!

Ryan knew the moment that they set foot in the old building that this was going to be another long night. Not because of his Gift, but because the old mansion looked like a palace, the exact kind of place where Ryan imagined old-timey ghosts to live. 

“Hello?” His voice sounded scratchy and Ryan coughed, knowing he probably just ruined their first shot already. 

Shane clapped him on the back, softened by the millions of layers Ryan was wearing. When they had gotten the green light to return to the UK for more shoots, he had known it would be a little colder than LA - he had not expected to have to wear literally every piece of clothing he brought with him all at once.

“This place is amazing! I mean really, if you had to haunt somewhere as a ghost, why not in a palace like this!” Shane turned, the light of his torch reflecting on one of the crystal lamps hanging above them for a moment. 

“It’s not a palace, they literally hung people here!” Ryan laughed, disbelievingly.

“Either way, this is the fanciest place we’ve ever been to. This is like the Versailles of ghost hunting!” They both turned back to the camera and Ryan shifted in his seat as he tried to get more comfortable. A flash of something brushed his mind, the image gone too quickly for Ryan to really grasp its meaning. He hated when that happened on a shoot. He was already on edge here, the last thing he needed was to feel paranoid about things that might happen.

“Do you think they let people hunt ghosts in Versailles?” Ryan wondered absentmindedly, ignoring the questioning look Shane seemed to give him. There was only so much explaining he was willing to do, especially in front of an audience.

“Well considering that they’re a respectable historical place, I highly doubt it.” Shane seemed to realise his own mistake right after he had finished, wincing as he looked back over to where the lady sat that had agreed to accompany them for the evening. 

“Sorry that’s not to say that this isn’t… I just meant that..”

“I’m going to cut you off there before you get us thrown out and we can’t shoot the episode.” Ryan fished out his phone, the screen illuminating his face as he searched for his notes.

 

“Ready? Matt, are we good to go?” He looked for Matt behind the camera, waiting for the signal to continue.

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate Plas Teg House in Flintshire, Wales as part of our ongoing investigation into the question ‘Are ghosts real?’”.

\----

Everyone that told you that “knowing that you’re different makes things easier” was a liar in Ryan’s book. Of course Gifts weren’t all that rare these days, but at least most people ended up with something fun. Like Eugene, who just had a knack for being really charismatic and drawing people in or Curly - not that anyone really knew what kind of blood was in his veins, but considering that he seemed to be made out of rainbow dust and a love for gossip, it didn’t seem too far fetched to think that Sprites were involved somehow.

It was just.. most people had Gifts that made their lives easier, or at least more fun. Ryan... wasn’t so lucky. 

The first time he realised he could see the future, Ryan was seven. Jake had been playing out on their front lawn, trying to get the dogs to fetch the ball back to him. One second Ryan had been looking at him sitting on the grass and the next he had seen Jake running onto the street, not looking as a car came around the corner and hit him. 

 

He had been on his feet and running before he had even realised what was happening. The car had still hit Jake.

He was fine, of course, nothing more than a few scratches, but Ryan had been shaking the whole time until Jake was cleared by a doctor in the hospital. 

Only then had he told his mother what had happened. She knew of course. She had sat him down, explained how in their family, most people were born without a Gift, that the Gift that did run in her family often skipped several generations. She had only heard stories of her great-grandmother, the woman that could see the future.

His mother had called him special, and yet all Ryan could focus on were the scrapes on Jake’s knees, the fact that him being able to see it happening before it did, changed absolutely nothing.

\----

“You know, I really think that we should move on to simply investigating castles like this.” Shane kept behind him, a reliable source for running commentary wherever they went. He knew that people somehow assumed that it was him that spoke the most between the two of them, but really, it was Shane. 

Ryan on the other hand couldn’t get a word out most of the time, too scared of whatever the dark was harbouring, especially for him.

“They really do go all in with the creepy factor, you know?” Shane stopped beside the wooden door Ryan had just opened to get into one of the smaller dining rooms, the door ominously creaking as he moved it back and forth.

“Well, this place is pretty old…can you imagine living here though? The draft must be awful.”  
Ryan relaxed a little. The episode would be good, the manor an imposing backdrop for their light-hearted banter. In moments like this, Ryan was grateful that he got to do this with Shane, who somehow always managed to keep things light enough that Ryan couldn’t sink too far down into his own pool of fear.

“Maybe that’s what actually keeps all those ghosts here. They all died of frustration because of the draft and are condemned to stay here and to complain about it, I guess?” Ryan was rambling, mentally already cutting this out of the episode. Even now, having an entire editing team at hand, he still refused to let anyone else touch the final edits of the video.

“So this is one of the small dining rooms..”

“One of the small dining rooms? How many dining rooms are there?” 

Ryan looked back at Shane, shrugging in response. “Who knows, maybe there’s some secret dining rooms somewhere too? This is an old house, everything was probably a dining room at some point.” Shane shrugged back, allowing Ryan to continue his tale of the men often seen here, how some people thought they were some of the executioners, regretting the many deaths that had occured at their hands. 

At times like this, Ryan was glad that he could see the future and not the past. Watching men make life or death decisions, over and over again sounded harrowing. 

“It’s rumoured that one of the executioners had the Gift to reanimate the dead. One of the stories talks about a man he accidentally reanimated six times..” 

“Wait, does that mean he also had to kill him six times?” Shane stared back at him. Sometimes he did that. Looked at Ryan like he was the only thing that mattered in the room. It would have been exhilarating for Ryan, if it didn’t usually involve them talking about corpses.

“I mean… I guess? I wonder why no-one told him that maybe he should switch jobs?” Ryan giggled, even more so when Shane responded in kind, 

“Now that’s a conflict of interest if I ever heard one.”

 

Nobody really knew when the Gifts had started to appear. Like with many other legends, it seemed that every culture had its own story. They all shared the same idea though: at some point, the magical world and its inhabitants had decided that they wanted to share themselves with the human world. Over generations, most of their more obvious traits disappeared - there wasn’t anyone running around with elf ears or who had a fish tail instead of legs, but their abilities remained. 

Some stories say it started after the witch hunts, true witches forced to mingle with humans in order to remain undetected. Many others, though, believe that it started earlier, that even in Ancient Egypt there were signs of people with special abilities. Over the centuries, public opinion on Gifted People had changed. They had gone from being seen as Gods to things to be afraid of and back again. 

Sometimes, Ryan felt that it was easy to forget the second part. Hollywood was swarming with Gifted People - some a little more, some a little less. They were popular, something Buzzfeed had also realised. Their video “People guess their friends Gifts” was still one of the company’s best performing videos.

Occasionally, Ryan regretted his decision to be a part of the video, the expectations from people that knew about his Gift were often crushing. They usually gave up as soon as they realised that Ryan really hadn’t ever learned to get Visions at will and that they often didn’t make a lot of sense. And yet, Ryan wondered, how it would have been if he had kept his Gift private. 

Like Shane had. 

He hadn’t even realised that Shane was Gifted until he mentioned it offhandedly during a shoot. Shane who still refused to participate in Gifted videos, who refused to answer any questions about the nature of his Gift. It drove Ryan crazy. Maybe it was good that he hadn’t kept his own private. He wouldn’t have been able to stand it.

 

“Ry?” Shane’s voice had gone soft, and Ryan knew even before he turned back to him that the cameras would be gone already, that it was just the two of them. Sometimes he wondered what others would think if they could hear how Shane sounded when it was just them. If they would be able to hear his heart pick up every time it happened. 

 

“We’re gonna go outside next, shoot the bit at the well house. The others are already setting up.” 

He didn’t ask him anymore if he was okay, knew that sometimes Ryan could be miles away when he was blinking away one of his Visions. 

 

Ryan usually didn’t bother to correct him, even if it wasn’t the reason. 

 

“Sure, let’s go.”

\- - - - 

“Ryan Bergara?”

Ryan startled as an elbow dug into his side, his desk mate motioning towards the front of the auditorium. “Dude he’s been calling your name for like, a minute.” 

 

Knowing his own track record for how long his Visions usually lasted, Ryan highly doubted that it really had been a minute, but he wasn’t going to argue about it. 

It was the end of a long semester, one of the last lectures before they were going to drown in exams. Ryan just wanted it all to be over already, him and the boys had already gotten tickets for Disneyland for after exam week (granted, of course, that they somehow survived it). 

(Some maybe better than others.)

He knew it had probably been a mistake to let Carrie know about his Vision, but all he’d wanted to do was reassure her that she was on the right track, that she didn’t need to stress so much about passing the exams. He had Seen that she would.

He was reminded that it had been a miscalculation the moment another student came up to him after class, asking him if he was “the dude that told Carrie her test results”. Ryan barely knew the guy, just knew that he was in one of the fraternities that seemed to host parties every weekend. Parties that Ryan never went to.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Ryan replied reluctantly, packing up his things as quickly as he could. 

The guy shifted on his feet, before reaching out to clap a hand on his back. “Cool thing of you to do… you didn’t… can you see what I’m going to get?”

Ryan sighed, already feeling a headache coming on. It was too early to have to explain himself again. “Look I just...I can’t just decide on what I want to See. Either I See it or I don’t. With Carrie it just... happened.”

The guy - Ryan vaguely remembered his name being Chase - nodded quickly. “Yeah of course that’s… that’s cool, man. Just... if you ever figure something out.. See something.. let me know, yeah?” Ryan nodded, hoping that this would be the end of the conversation. “Oh and… what’s your name again? Ryan, right? Why don’t you come to one of our parties next weekend?”

Ryan could see the invitation for what it was. Another way of trying to bribe him into sharing some information. He still nodded, claimed that he’d think about it. Maybe he really would this time. 

He knew he could tell the guy anything and he’d believe it, but he refused to stoop to that level. 

Chase wasn’t the first to try. After letting Carrie know about her grade, the list of people that suddenly started to speak to him grew longer and longer. Everyone suddenly seemed to know him, the nerdy kid that had somehow avoided all college parties until now and spent most of his weekends in Disneyland.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened either. Knowledge of the future was a dangerous and desired commodity. What people didn’t seem to realise was just how much it sucked when the future seemed set in stone. 

Knowing didn’t stop someone from failing a class. Didn’t keep breakups from happening. Knowing that you were hurtling towards a bad situation didn’t stop it from hurting you.

\--

“So this is the well..” 

“You mean… the well?”

“Shut up Shane…” Ryan sighed, his flashlight moving over the small well house that stood slightly to the side of the driveway. 

Plas Teg was looming over them, and the clouds covering the moon made for an especially dark night. They were lucky they had been able to borrow some more lighting equipment from the London offices, otherwise their shots would have been ruined already. 

 

“So what’s up with this well?” Shane leaned over the edge, staring down into the well mouth. “Did it not go so… well for some people around here?” 

“Dude.” Ryan reached out, the tips of his fingers just about reaching Shane’s jacket. He could feel them tingling even after he had pulled back already. “Don’t lean over there. People have died here for exactly that reason.” 

It was easy for Ryan to lose himself in storytelling. It was easier, retelling stories of the past, even if their outcome was tragic. They had an ending, a purpose to their story.  
He had always seen it as the polar opposite to his own Gift. A well-rounded story with a beginning and an end, instead of a singular scene, devoid of any context, with no option to change the outcome. 

“The daughter of one of the landowners, Dorothy, had fallen in love with a lower-born man called Iorweth. Her family didn’t approve though, because they thought he wasn’t good enough for her and so her and her lover decided to elope.” Ryan sighed, watching the way their shared breaths seemed to mist up the space between them. “She took all her jewels and wanted to hide them close to the well. When she leaned over to retrieve them the next night though, she fell and drowned in the well. She wasn’t found for a whole two months and no one has ever found her jewels.”

“A whole two months? What, did no one come here for two months? God, I hope I’d be found quicker if I ever fell down a well.” 

Ryan rolled his eyes, slowly stepping closer to the small wall surrounding the well. “I wonder if they didn’t miss her or if they just didn’t think to look here..” At night, the well seemed like a dark pit going nowhere. “You know.. some people think wells or water in general are portals to other dimensions.”

 

“Are you trying to pass off Enchanted as a mystical legend?” Shane snorted, his shoulder bumping against Ryan’s. 

“Shut up, Shane” Ryan rolled his eyes. If he concentrated hard enough, he could feel the warmth coming off of Shane through his jacket. “For the record I’d… I’d make sure to search some wells too if you didn’t turn up for two months..”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan could see Shane turning to look at him, his cheeks flushing as he realised how he must have sounded. 

Ryan turned to look back at him, to somehow make this into a joke again, but the words were stuck in his throat. 

“Yeah. Me too.” Ryan should look away. He knew he should. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. He knew, because for the longest time it had been him who had edited their videos. He wasn’t blind to the long looks they shared. To the fact that it took almost no effort for Shane to calm him down. To the looks he gave Shane even when he’d already turned his back on him. 

He had wanted to be a cinematographer, paying attention to the little details had always been what got him ahead. This was one of the few times in his life where he desperately wanted to be able to See ahead. To know if this dance they were doing would actually lead them somewhere. 

 

\----

When he was a kid and Ryan got scared or overwhelmed, he had hid in his mom’s closet. He’d pull the box with her bed sheets aside and hide in the far left corner, behind her winter coats. Everything had always seemed calmer - easier - there.

Nothing was calm about this closet. There also weren’t any bed sheets or coats, just stacks and stacks of copy paper and old folders that had somehow ended up there. Ryan thought though that there was something almost poetic about hiding in a closet at Buzzfeed of all places. Outside, he could hear the chatter of some of his colleagues, occasionally a pair of sneakers or heels passing the door. He wondered if any of them were looking for him already.

Participating in the video had seemed like a good idea at first. While Ryan was no longer the New Guy, he still felt like he needed to earn his place here, and jumped at the chance of a little more exposure. 

 

‘Gifted People answer questions others are afraid to ask.’ It had seemed like an easy job. Go in, answer some questions, try and be funny and helpful and get back to editing the video he had been working on. 

 

And, objectively speaking, it really had been fine. Maybe Ryan was just being too sensitive. But he could feel the eyes following him, the way one of the other interns had joked about asking Ryan about the next lottery numbers. 

 

It had been less of a joke when he came up to him after the shoot, asking him about his girlfriend and if she’d say yes to his proposal. It reminded Ryan of every single awkward conversation he had to sit through at college. Every time someone stopped him, befriended him and ended up trying to cash in a favour. “Can you See…?” The answer was always no.

He hated seeing the way disappointment would always show up on their face, no matter how much they were trying to hide it. Sometimes it would be mixed with annoyance, thinking Ryan wasn’t willing to help them. 

The worst ones though were the ones that approached Ryan with hope. The ones that were counting on him. Letting them down, seeing their faces fall was almost as awful as the disappointment he felt in himself. 

 

After the video, Ryan had excused himself and slipped away from the rest of the crew. It had already been a bad day, the interns’ questions had really just been the icing on the cake. His videos about some unsolved true crime cases had gone over well, and management had greenlighted a few more episode. And then, this morning, Brent had come over, letting him know that he was moving to another department.

“I’m sorry, man. I’m sure you’ll find someone else.” As if it was that easy. Like co-hosts just appeared out of nowhere.

Ryan sighed. He knew he had to come out of here soon, there was only so long he could put off sending an email around the office, begging someone to shoot a few more episodes of the show with him. Until then though, Ryan found himself fascinated with the dark marks on the walls around him, counting them until he could gather enough courage again to get out of there. 

Just when he had to move to the wall right next to him to continue counting, the door opened, a large figure blocking the light from outside. Ryan squinted, trying to make out who was interrupting his pity party.

“Are you… actually hiding in a closet? That’s taking it a bit literally, don’t you think?” Shane’s amused voice gave him away, but instead of leaving him alone again, he closed the door behind himself.

“What?” Ryan croaked, wincing at how messed up his voice sounded.

 

“Pride? Jen and Curly are going around the office recruiting people for the float?” Shane shifted, kneeling down in front of him. 

 

“Oh… I must have missed that. I was shooting something.” Ryan sighed, his eyes darting away from Shane’s face. Trust his today’s lucky streak to continue and have him find him. Ryan couldn’t explain why it was such a big deal. They were friends - had bonded over their shared interests in weird stuff. It should all be easy. And yet. And yet Ryan couldn’t stop the way his heart sometimes beat a little faster around him. 

 

“You okay?” Shane poked at his knee, the rips in his jeans leaving bare skin for him to touch. 

 

Ryan leaned forward, resting his arms on his bent knees. “Yeah...Just got a bit much..”

Shane nodded, seemingly thinking for a moment before he nudged him to the side, crawling into the small space beside him and a box full of office material. It looked ridiculous. His legs were far too long to even remotely fit into the small space, his arms awkwardly folded over his chest. 

“You know you don’t have to let them constantly walk over you, right?” Shane spoke carefully, almost as if he was worried that Ryan would take it the wrong way. “You didn’t get in here just for your Gift.”

“Yeah. Right.” Ryan nodded, but even he had to admit that it sounded pathetic. “I know that, I just.. it’s kind of my perk, you know? A bonus.”

 

Shane chuckled, bumping their shoulders against each other. “What, like in Mario Kart? Are you a green shell?” 

Despite how miserable Ryan felt, he had to laugh, burying his face in his palms. “No, you idiot. I just mean… I mean.. a lot of people here are super talented. And my Gift is just.. it’s my thing you know?” He didn’t say that once people knew, it was almost all they talked about. That even at college when he had become actual friends with the guys in his fraternity, he was aware why he was even invited in the first place.

“Huh..” Ryan could feel Shane looking at him, their shoulders still awkwardly pressed together. “Interesting.”

“What’s so ‘interesting’ about that?” Ryan sighed, finally turning to look at Shane again. “And why do you have to make that sound like you’re a Mafia boss?”

“My mom told me I could be anything I want… she never said I couldn’t be a Mafia boss.” 

 

Ryan snorted, and slowly he could feel the knot he had felt in his chest all afternoon loosening. “That explains so much about you.”

Shane laughed, his eyes shining when he looked back at Ryan. “Maybe.” There was something in the air between them, Ryan thought. It wasn’t something he noticed often, the last time being at one of Buzzfeeds after-work parties. But sometimes it felt like Ryan could almost see something change between, something he couldn’t explain even if he tried. 

 

“But that’s not… I just meant that I don’t really think that’s your thing. I mean, there’s people with way more interesting Gifts out there, Cassandra.” 

Ryan rolled his eyes at the nickname, but his heart suddenly felt like it was beating out of his chest. “Very creative, Sasquatch.”

“Says you. But I’m serious. You’re a bit of an idiot sometimes, so that’s kind of your thing. I mean really, you believe in dust and wind being actual dead people…”

“There is scientific evidence that…”

 

“We are not having this debate again, not while we’re sitting in a closet. I have standards. Anyway. So that’s your thing. Your thing is being obsessed with Disneyland and that ..basketball thing. Your thing is being a hard worker and being funny and...and a good friend.” 

Shane’s voice changed at the end, softening where he had been trying to be funny in the beginning. It was almost disconcerting to hear him speak without his usual humour, without the mask of indifference. This Shane here in the closet with him? This Shane seemed to care.

Ryan swallowed, unable to look away until someone outside walked past the door, interrupting the little bubble they had created for themselves.

“Also, you really need to get that whole fratboy vibe under control. No one needs that many snapbacks…” 

Ryan laughed, and something seemed to change again, like pieces falling into place. He felt calmer, lighter, when Shane helped him up and any hope of the two of them sneaking out of the closet together without anyone noticing were immediately squashed when they stepped out.

Curly and Jen were both holding a basket of rainbow pins, staring at the two of them as they tried to straighten out their jackets.

“Do you see what I…” 

“Yup.”

“Did they just…”

“Come out of a closet? Yep I think they did.” 

“Dios mío.”

 

Ryan didn’t even try to correct them. 

Later that afternoon, once Ryan was back at his desk again, it felt like the easiest thing in the world to turn to his right. “So… how empty is your calendar? Wanna do a shoot with me? I still need a new co-host for that Unsolved show I’m doing...”

 

\-----

Ryan didn’t know what it was about the cold that somehow made the woods even spookier. Their crew had already started to take everything back inside, preparing the Indian Drawing Room, one of the house’s most haunted spaces, for one last shoot with the whole crew before they stayed there alone overnight.

 

If he concentrated, he could just about make out the road that ran past the estate. At this time of the night, the little traffic that had been driving past during the day was completely absent.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Shane stepped close, close enough that Ryan could feel him shivering even through the layers they were both wearing. Shane had laughed at him in the hotel when he put on everything he had, happy to bring back his ‘Lily of the Valley’ joke, but even his Midwestern roots couldn’t have prepared him for the cold.

“What?” Ryan tore his gaze away from the road ahead, their eyes meeting. He had noticed this before, the way Shane would sometimes step closer once the cameras were off, stand so close that all Ryan would have to do is reach out. 

Shane smiled, pointing upwards. “The stars. They’re beautiful out here. Been a while since I’ve seen them so clearly.” 

Ryan followed his gesture, and he had been so distracted by the darkness around him, that he hadn’t even noticed the bright side of being so far away from civilisation. The night sky above them was littered with stars. “Oh yeah. Right. I was a little too distracted by the creepy forest.” 

“Let me guess… the wailing lady from the well?” Ryan had told her story before, continuing it after their little moment at the well. “Well she is supposed to walk around here. With my luck, I’m gonna see her outside the window when we’re trying to sleep.”

“Well at least she’s not the evil version of your dad… unless there’s a lot of your family history that I don’t know.” 

“How does that even - dude, my dad isn’t that old!” Ryan laughed, turning to go back into the at least slightly warmer house. 

Faintly, he could hear Shane’s amused response but around him the whole world seemed to fall away, until all that was left was them. 

Logically, Ryan knew that what he was seeing wasn’t real yet, but it was so similar that Ryan almost could have believed it. They were standing in nearly the same spot, but there was something in the way Shane shifted, obviously nervous and trying to hide it, that seemed out of place. The sun behind them seemed just on its way up, casting everything in the soft light of an early morning. 

“Hey so…” Shane paused, reaching out for Ryan before he seemed to stop himself. “I just wanted to check that you’re okay. After… well.” 

Shane - Vision Shane - looked around, obviously checking that no one was listening before he went on. His fidgeting continued.

“I want to make sure you’re okay after last night. I’ve never really..I kind of can’t believe-” 

“Ryan? Ryan! Ry, we gotta get back in there.”

Ryan blinked, the world tilting back into focus. Ryan couldn’t help but notice the differences in the Shane standing before him. The pillow creases were missing in his face and his eyes weren’t quite so small yet. This Shane hadn’t spend a whole night awake yet.

Something in Ryan’s face must have given him away, and Shane reached out, finally crossing the distance between them as he grasped Ryan’s wrist. 

“You okay? Did you-” 

“Something is going to happen tonight.” Ryan burst out, and it wasn’t until he had finished the sentence that he realised just how terrifying that sounded.

“Alright, come on Ry, calm down… what do you mean…” But Ryan didn’t know. He didn’t know what it meant, he never did. 

But one thing was clear - something would happen, and it would terrify Shane. Enough that he thought he had to talk to Ryan about it the next day. 

 

*****

By the time they had shot their last investigation of the Indian Drawing Room and had moved upstairs to the Regency Room, Ryan was properly panicking. 

He was sure that it would show on camera as well, given the looks that Matt had shot him, but there wasn’t really a way to explain ‘Hey, I think a ghost is going to come and spook us both’.

Matt wasn’t the only one though, if the way Devon had been lingering, carefully asking if they were sure that they wanted to stay by themselves here. If Ryan had been alone, or with anyone else, he’d have taken her up on her offer. But even before they had started the show together, Shane had managed to get in under his skin, anchoring him and making him feel... safe.

It was Shane’s presence at his back that allowed him to wave her off, sending them all on their way as they left for their hotel a couple of miles away. 

“Well on the upside… we have a bed!” Shane cheerfully proclaimed, his back hitting the mattress of the imposing four poster bed as he let himself fall onto it. Ryan winced as he heard the groan coming from Shane, phantom pain travelling down his own back. “On the downside... she could have foregone the historical accuracy and invested in some proper mattresses.”

“You think that’s a historically accurate mattress? What would that even be? We’re not sleeping on hay or whatever.” Ryan snorted, grabbing the change of clothes that was buried deep in his bag. He knew what Shane was doing, his attempt at trying to distract Ryan and get him out of his head, but it felt different this time. 

It wasn’t the first time that Ryan had a Vision while on set for Unsolved, but it was the first time it involved Shane like this. The first time it ever alluded to something happening, that would shake Shane’s core enough to make him feel anxious too. 

Ryan seemed to hold out until they had settled into bed, the only camera still recording the one that faced the bed they were sharing. “I’m fucking terrified.” He could feel more than see Shane move, turn towards him in the darkness. 

 

“What did you See?” There was no judgement, just carefully measured curiosity. 

 

“I… you were scared of something.. I’m not sure, it doesn’t really make that much sense when I try to retell it but something is going to happen tonight…” Ryan broke off, frustrated with his own inability to retell what had happened. He couldn’t even say why it was so hard. What kept him from repeating the words back to Shane. Maybe because it make the whole thing seem more real.

“There are a bunch of things, though, that could scare me, Ry.” It was a soft admission, a different answer than Ryan had expected. He finally turned too, trying to make out Shane’s face in the little light the moon gave off.. 

“You, get scared? I almost can’t believe it.” He meant it as a joke, cracking the intense atmosphere, but Ryan’s voice ended up giving him away, breaking off at the last word.

“Of course I get scared. Maybe not of ghosts or demons, but there are many things that terrify me. I’m not as brave as you are.” 

It wasn’t the first time Shane had said this, letting the whole internet know that he thought of Ryan as brave, but despite the camera rolling in the background, it felt like the first time all over again, an admission just for him in the dark of the night. 

“And before you give me again some bullshit about how you’re not brave... I’m not just talking about hunting down ghouls and demons, little guy.”

Ryan must have made some kind of questioning noise, because he could hear Shane sigh. A moment seemed to pass, a decision made, and Ryan felt the warm fingers wrapping around his wrist.

“Your Gift. You’re so open with it, despite the fact that I see you struggling with people’s reactions. You don’t hesitate or try to hide it. That’s... that’s really fucking brave. I wish I could do that sometimes.”

Ryan froze. Distantly, he was aware that his heart was beating right out of his chest, and that Shane must be able to feel his pulse picking up, but he was still too hung up on Shane’s words. 

“I… I don’t really have a choice now do I?” He finally said, forcing himself to be brave in another way as he pulled his hand out of Shane’s grasp to lace their fingers together. He wished he could step outside himself and see them, wished he could memorize the way their hands looked together, just in case this was the only time this would happen. “Most people already know by now. And I don’t wanna lie to them.” 

Shane’s breath hitched. “No I guess.. I guess you don’t.”

Ryan paused, hoping he wasn’t wrong here. “Have you lied to people before? About… about yours?” He had never dared to ask. Gifts were personal for most people, and he was the last person that would force someone to tell him about theirs. 

Shane shrugged, the bed sheets rustling as he turned on his back. “I have, yeah. Not completely but half-truths? Sure.”

There was a beat of silence before Shane continued. “You know… I thought it was funny at first when the fans started to joke about me being a demon. The first time I read it, I wondered if any of them had been researching my family’s history.” 

Ryan’s breath caught in his chest and Shane’s answering laugh sounding sad. “Yeah I know. Your worst nightmare. Not that we’ve got much in common with our ancestors anymore, but it still seems like an incredibly... stupid cosmic joke. Fall for the one guy who’s literally terrified of what makes you who you are”

Ryan tugged on Shane’s hand, unable to process anything beyond the fact that he had told him he liked him. 

“I’m not scared of you. And our ancestors aren’t… that’s not really how this works. You’re as much a demon as I’m a witch, which means not at all.” 

Shane huffed out a breath, but it sounded less frustrated then before, something Ryan counted as a win. 

“Whatever your… Gift is.. unless you can literally turn into something looking like an actual demon from hell, I think that I can cope with it.”

“You can cope with it, hm?” Ryan could feel the tug on his hand as Shane turned back to him, the moonlight just about enough that he could see the small smile back on his face.

“Well I hope so. And for the record, I don’t suddenly get wings or horns or any kind of bullshit like that.” 

Shane paused, his voice softer as he continued. “You know why I liked Ruining History so much? Why I was so upset that they didn’t greenlight that second season?” 

Ryan frowned, the change of topic seemingly sudden and shook his head. 

“Because I could.. I could safely use at least a little bit of my Gift, without anyone really… wondering.” 

“Please don’t tell me your Gift is that you literally lived through all of that, because I don’t think I could cope with you being some kind of immortal.” Shane laughed, seemingly free for the first time since they started talking about it. 

“Come on Ryan, didn’t you pay attention in Gifted 101? That’s literally impossible. We aren’t.. super humans.” There were probably a fair number of people that would disagree with Shane on that statement, but Ryan wasn’t going to argue now.

“No I.. I can tell stories?” Shane paused, seemingly frustrated with himself as he struggled to get the words out. 

“You can tell stories?” Ryan tried to help out, squeezing Shane’s hand in assurance. 

“Yeah I… god this sounds weird. I can… make people see things. When I tell my Stories. I can .. bring them to life you could say.”

It seemed like such a simple concept, but Ryan knew that often the simplest Gifts were the most complicated. A thought struck him, its implications heavy. “Any… any story?”

 

Shane shifted, squeezing Ryans hand one more time before he let go, getting up from the bed. In the dark, Ryan could just about make him out as he walked towards the camera, the red light that showed it was running suddenly going out.

 

“I can show you. If you want. But I.. I want you to know that this isn’t something.. I wouldn’t ever lie to someone.. Especially you.”

Ryan sat up on the bed, nodding slowly. “I’d like to see. But only if you’re really sure you’re okay with sharing this with me. I know you wouldn’t… lie to me.”

For a moment Shane seemed to still, gathering himself before he sat back down on the bed, keeping some distance between them. “You know… I always thought it was interesting that you were so set on ghosts, on uncovering things that were remains from the past. A guy that can see the future, and yet all he wants to do is speak to some dust to see what the past was like.” 

Ryan shrugged, waiting a beat to see if Shane wanted to continue before he answered. “The past is just as set in stone as the future seems to be. At least with the past we get... context.”

Shane nodded, almost seeming as if there was more he wanted to say but re-deciding at the last minute. “Let me tell you a Story then. About the owners of this house.”

And Shane told him a story. Ryan of course already knew the history of the house, had researched it for weeks, but this was... this was different. In front of his eyes, the story became... alive and Ryan couldn’t look away.

It felt different than his Visions, but there was the same kind of eerie quality about it, that little something that made his subconscious realise that this wasn’t quite what it seemed. 

 

There was Sir John Trevor, the politician that had built the house. Judge Jeffreys who had forever tainted the house and drenched it in blood.  
Ryan watched the figures of Elizabeth Trevor and her two suitors, the men fighting with each other over her love. And Ryan also watched Shane. 

It was impossible not to, his voice drawing Ryan’s attention back despite the figures in the room. He was mesmerizing to watch, smiling easily at Ryan as their eyes met. And Ryan? Ryan suddenly felt like the world was ripped out from under him. He loved him.

It felt like such a cliche. Like every single one of those Gifted Books that he knew his Mom secretly read, like every rom-com ever made. To realise that he had been falling for his best friend for years, only once he shared his Gift with you, was probably the worst stereotype out there and yet. He couldn’t look away. 

Shane seemed to trail off, realising that something had happened and slowly the world around them returned to normal. “Sorry that… was that too much? I usually don’t go into full Storyteller mode but I thought… Ryan are you okay?” 

Ryan laughed. It felt ridiculous to laugh now, and he knew he would have to explain in a moment, but Shane was looking at him as if he had finally lost his mind and maybe - maybe he had.

“Look, I do know that this can be a little overwhelming but I’m genuinely getting a bit concerned for your sanity here.”

Ryan took a shaky breath, the hand that had covered his mouth as he laughed reaching out for Shane again. “It’s...I promise I haven’t lost my mind.” Shane seemed doubtful, even as he let Ryan tug on his hand to get him closer again.

“I just had a revelation and… it seemed so dumb to have it right now, even though it was right in front of my nose the whole time.”

Shane nodded before he shook his head. “Yeah...no actually, not really sure I understand. What was that revelation again?”

There were probably several reasonable things Ryan could have done. He should have explained first, given Shane time to confirm that he was also interested. But Ryan had never been the type to think first and act later.  
.  
“Please tell me, if i’m completely wrong about this..” Ryan mumbled, his eyes flickering up to meet Shane’s.

“Wrong about what? You’re not even saying…” 

As first kisses go, this one would probably not be one for the history books. It was neither particularly good, considering that Ryan had cut Shane off in the middle of speaking, nor was it particularly passionate as Shane seemed to have frozen on the spot. But Ryan still allowed himself another moment before he pulled back sheepishly, looking everywhere but at Shane. 

“Jeez Ryan… give a guy some warning.” Ryans head shot up, his heart pounding. Shane was looking at him, and then fondness written all over his face eased some of the worry in Ryans chest.

“I’m… sorry?”

“No you’re not...”

“Not really, no.” 

 

Ryans grin dropped the moment the window rattled, almost jumping into Shane’s arms. 

“Hey... it was just the wind.” 

Ryan nodded, trying to focus on the new feeling of Shane’s arms around him, but in the midst of all that had happened, he had almost forgotten about his Vision. Had forgotten that this night would at least end horribly. 

“Why don’t I... do you want me to distract you? I can just… tell you some more. I didn’t finish the story about Elizabeth.” 

Ryan sighed, pulling back enough that they could both crawl back under the blankets again. Neither bothered to turn back on the camera.

“Sorry I’m so...ugh. Kinda destroyed the moment there, didn’t I?” 

Shane laughed softly, the sound enough to let Ryan settle back against the pillows again. 

 

“Maybe a little. But I think I can cope with that too. Now, since I guess neither of us are going to get sleep tonight, and not for the fun kind of reasons… do you want distractions? Cause I’m surprisingly good at that.”

And he was. They were barely inches apart, just enough that Ryan could still see what was happening around them, Shane’s voice a comforting constant as he told him about the house’s story. The wind continued to wreak havoc on the world outside, but inside Shane created a new and different world just for Ryan.

**********

The sun was almost rising by the time they packed up their things, taking all their bags and the tripod back downstairs with them.

Ryan had fallen asleep at some point, only to wake up wrapped around Shane, his face pressed into his chest. Neither of them had known what to say, both of them stealing looks when the other wasn’t looking. In short - Ryan was fully aware that it was awkward.

He was sure that it was going to work itself out, that they just needed time, but he could feel Shane twitching beside him, anxiously fiddling with the zipper of his backpack while they waited for the crew. 

“You alright, man?”

“What?” 

Ryan raised an eyebrow, but the crunch of car tyres against the gravel of the driveway was enough to stop any further questioning.

Matt and Devon had been the only ones willing to sacrifice a little sleep to pick them up, helping them as they loaded the rest of their stuff into the small van they had rented.

“Hey so…” Shane paused, reaching out for Ryan before he seemed to stop himself. “I just wanted to check that you’re okay. After… well.” 

Shane looked around, checking that Devon and Matt were still busy with their bags before he continued. He shifted, his eyes jumping around until the finally landed back on Ryan.

“I want to make sure you’re okay after last night. I’ve never really..I kind of can’t believe-” 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Ryan blurted out, face-palming as he realised his own mistake. “See. This is why I’m no good at this whole ‘Seeing the future’ business.”

 

He didn’t even realise just how taken aback Shane looked until he glanced back up, reaching out to him.

“Sorry, it’s just… you know how I freaked out last night? I thought that… I knew you were going to say this, I just thought that you meant you couldn’t believe that...”

“Oh, Ryan. Oh, Ryan.” Shane seemed to relax again, a poorly hidden laugh making his eyes shine again. “You thought that I meant I couldn’t believe ghosts were real, right? Oh, Ryan..”

“Can you please stop saying ‘Oh, Ryan’?” Ryan blushed, whining into his hands. “This is… I was so sure! What else could it have been?”

Shane stepped closer, obviously ignoring the fact that Devon and Matt were now already done, both of them pretending to be busy as they looked at their phones, but neither of them doing a particularly good job.

“I meant that I had never really… shared my Gift like this before. I wasn’t sure if you were really interested or if I was just imagining it. I can’t believe how much time we wasted pining, if this is what happened.” 

For one moment Ryan just stared at him, Shane now openly laughing at his dumbfounded expression, but it just seemed so... simple. 

“Ry…” Shane’s laughter trailed off and he reached out, taking Ryans hand in his. “Seriously though. Are we... is this okay?” 

Ryan bit his lip, squeezing Shane’s hand before he looked back up. “Not really. All these years you made fun of me for believing in demons, only to go out and tell me you’re basically one yourself! Are you denying your own family members’ existence?”

This time it was Shane’s turn to stare at him, slowly shaking his head. “That’s not… that’s an entirely different thing! I told you, there’s no... creatures in hell…”

“Did you meet your relatives?” 

“Of course not, you know how many generations ago that was…”

“Then you don’t know, do you? So actually, you are living proof-”

Shane held a hand over his mouth, stopping him in his tracks. “Ryan.. I say this with all the love in the world... please shut up now.”

Slowly he dropped his hand as he felt Ryan trying to talk against it, waiting for his reply. 

“Well. Why don’t you try and make me shut up?”

Slowly a smirk spread on Shane’s face and he leaned in, the last sentence whispered against Ryan’s lips. “Oh, gladly.”

**Author's Note:**

> The biggest Thank you goes to my bff, who literally stayed up until midnight at times to edit this with me and scream at me through the google docs commenting function. 
> 
> Thank you for helping me, make my english make sense.


End file.
